The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Va’eschanan

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) sets aside three “Cities of Refuge” for people who have accidentally killed someone and are afraid of the families’ vengeance, or for people who have purposely killed someone and are awaiting trial,.

2. The Rebbe begins discussing a certain aspect of the “Cities of Refuge”:

Our Sages tell us that the road to the “Cities of Refuge” was not only paved and broadened so that people could run there quickly; there were even signs pointing the way at the intersections saying “Refuge, Refuge”.

Being that this is the way the roads to the physical “Cities of Refuge” were set up, we can logically deduce that the spiritual “Cities of Refuge”, which are the words of Torah, are also set up this way.

3. The Rebbe digresses for a moment and elaborates on a recently mentioned idea:

The truth of the matter is that when something is set up a certain way in the spiritual worlds that’s the way it will manifest in the physical world; not the other way around. Therefore, when speaking about our issue at hand we must say that since the spiritual “Cities of Refuge”- the words of Torah- are set up in a way where the roads leading there are paved, broad, and full of signs leading the way, this is also the way it manifested physically- the roads were paved, broad, and full of signs leading the way.

There is actually a story about the Rebbe Rashab (Rebbe Shalom DovBer) which clearly illustrates this point:

In the years 1984 and 1985 the medical professors found a new vein in the brain which helps for remembering things and thinking deeply into things. One day, while the Rebbe Rashab was eating at his table, his brother Rabbi Menachem Mendel excitedly reported of this new discovery. The Rebbe Rashab quietly finished his meal and then asked the family to remain seated after the Bentching (Grace after meals). The Rebbe Rashab left the room and came back with a Sefer (book) which was written by the Mitteler Rebbe (Rebbe DovBer) more than a hundred and fifty years earlier, and in this book the Mitteler Rebbe describes this vein in six or seven lines.

The Mitteler Rebbe explains in this Sefer that there is a vein in the brain which is full of membranes and this vein is constantly moving forward and backward. Interestingly, when this vein moves forward (into the region of “Da’as”) it helps the person think very deeply into things, and when it moves backward (into the region of “Chochmah” and “Binah”) it helps the person remember things. Therefore, when a person wants to remember something he naturally moves his head backward, and when he wants to concentrate deeply on a subject he bows his head down.

Upon hearing this one of the family members remarked, “The Mitteler Rebbe must have been a great professor!” The Rebbe Rashab then explained that this was not the case. The Rebbe Rashab explained that the Mitteler Rebbe knew of this vein because he saw and knew everything about the spiritual source of man (the “Predominal Man”) and therefore knew that this is the way it must be in the physical world as well.

However, we are not on the level of the Mitteler Rebbe and we can only deduce from the physical world how it is in the spiritual worlds.

4. The Rebbe now explains what we can learn from the physical “Cities of Refuge”:

As we said earlier, the “Cities of Refuge” were also for those who had purposely killed. So too spiritually, the words of Torah (the spiritual “Cities of Refuge”) are for everyone; even those who purposely went against the will of Hashem.

Also, just like the physical “Cities of Refuge” had its’ roads paved and broadened so that it was easy to access it, so too the paths to the Torah are “paved” and “broadened” so that the Torah is easily accessible to all.

Additionally, just as having the roads paved and broadened were not enough to ensure the arrival of the refugee at the “City of Refuge” because he might not know which road to take, and therefore there needed to be signs pointing out the correct path, so too there are “signs” on the path to the Torah. Hashem so-to-speak stands with a sign and says, “Refuge, Refuge! This path, the path of Torah, is the path you shall go in”. As it says, “(See I have put before you life and death, good and evil… ) And you shall choose life”.

Translated and adapted by Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos volume two.